Method of packing cheese



April 20, 1937. v w. Y. c. HUNT 2,077,597

METHOD OF PACKING CHEESE Filed April 22, 1936 Fig.1.

Patented Apr. 20, 1937 PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF PACKING CHEESE Walter Y. 0. Hunt, Short Hills, N. J., assignor to Reynolds Metals Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application April 22,

3 Claims.

and the appearance of the printed paper with its attendant advantages when the cheese is removed from a box to be cut and sold in cut portions of known weight.

The packaging of foil-covered cheese in a box is well known and the advantages promoted thereby are plain, since on account of the protection afiorded by the foil it is apparent the cheese will not crust or harden by oxidation and may be used in its entirety by removal of the foil.

It is known to so package cheese in plain foil but it is a different problem to, so package cheese in a paper-covered foil and at the same time obtain an effective metal-to-metal seal. The invention aims to solve this problem and use paper-covered foil with the added advantages of the fact that the paper may be decorated and printed in colors to indicate names, trade-marks and. divisions of the full package of cheese.

With the above in mind, the invention resides in the details to be now fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, and in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the box with the package wrapper placed therein preparatory to pouring of the hot cheese.

Figure 2 is a vertical secional view transversely through the box after the cheese has been poured therein, showing the same reversed.

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the package as it will appear upon subsequent removal from the box.

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of the wrapper, and

Figure 5 is a detail fragmentary perspective view of one end of a modified form of wrapper.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown an elongated rectangular box Ill, such, for instance, as commonly made of wood for the exportation of cheese and which, after the cheese is placed therein in the manner desired, is finally closed by a cover (not shown).

In packaging cheese within the box, it is well known to line the same with metal foil with the object of preserving the cheese from crusting and protecting the same until removal from the box 5 and cut into sections for sale in quarter, half 1936, Serial No. 75,846

and one pound units. Plain, uncovered metal foil is commonly used for this purpose and, after the hot cheese is poured into the same, lining the box Hi, the outlying flaps of foil are turned inwardly in overlapping relation and the box top nailed in place.

Cheese shrinks as it solidifies and it frequently happens no suflicient pressure of the box top oc curs to press the overlapping flaps of the foil into anything like sealing relationship. Moreover, it frequently happens that any sealing pressure, if such is present, is not uniform the fulllength of the package. The foil is, in the uncovered form, somewhat fragile and difiicult to handle and is subject to ready rupture due to abrasion with the bottom and long side walls of the box l0. In addition, it does not readily lend itself to printing, especially in colors, and marks, indicating points of cutting the wrapped cheese into pound, half-pound and quarter-pound slices or sections, readily obliterate.

The present invention proposes the use of a foil lined paper wrapper as shown in the drawing, the paper II being any suitable thin paper of sufficient strength to protect the foil lining l2 and permit of more ready and easy handling, and being of a character readily printed in colors to fancifully display the maker's name and trademark as well as the name or type of the cheese contained therein, as at I3, and the guide marks for cutting, as at M. This wrapper is in the form of a rectangular sheet to cover the sides, top .and bottom of the package, and is placed within the box l0 along with plain foil end covers l5 whose edges are turned in along portions of the foil lining I2 of the wrapper to thus bring about metal-to-metal seals at the package ends.

As initially positioned in the box I0, the free upper edges of the wrapper and the foil end covers I5 are extended outwardly over the upper edges of the sides and ends of the box It! until the hot fluid cheese is poured into the wrapper, thus lining the box. The upper edges or flaps of the end covers I5 are then turned in, and over these end cover flaps the free edges of the wrapper are turned in toward one another.

It will be noted in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, one free edge l6 0! the foil I2 projects sufliciently beyond the respective edge of the paper II to underlap a substantial portion of the other free edge and thus bring about metal-to-metal contact of overlapping portions of the foil over a substantial width for the full length of the package. It is not,.however, necessary that the free edge of the foil at It project beyond the paper If, and it may be coextensive therewith as at iii in Figure 5 so long as it is free of the edge of the paper for a distance suflicient to provide a foil underlap extending substantially beneath the other free edge of the wrapper for the same purpose as previously set forth.

With the wrapper thus completely around the hot fluid cheese, and before the latter has sufliciently solidified to prevent flowing thereof, the box is quickly turned over on a fiat surface as seen in Figure 2, with its open top against such surface, and the weight of the cheese in this position, settling uniformly and evenly on the overlapped portions of the foil ii, including the edges it to H3 presses these metal-to-metal surfaces into sealing contact and for this purpose fiattens out any ridges or indentations of said foil edges. The seal is especially effective as formed at this time since the heat of the cheese has materially decreased the elastic limit of the metal foil and placed the same in a condition where it is much more readily deformed than in its normal state; With many different kinds of cheese so packed, the pouring temperature is in the order of F. and the temperature is utilized to a large degree during the sealing period when the box is in the inverted position shown in Figure 2.

The cheese is then permitted to solidify in the inverted position and may be subsequently righted to finish the boxing thereto by applying a suitable top upon the box til and securing the top in place, or the box cover may be nailed in place before inverting the box, thus allowing the box cover to form the fiat surface against which the weight of the cheese presses the overlapped metal; it is obvious the objects and advantages first above mentioned may thus be obtained in an effective manner without resulting disadvantages.

What is claimed is:

l. The herein described method of packing cheese, which consists in utilizing a paper-covered foil wrapper within a box body so as to present the foil surface of the wrapper toward the interior of the box with one outer edge of the foil free of the paper covering, filling the wrapper with hot fluid cheese, infolding the sides of the wrapper over the cheese so that the free edge of the foil underlaps the opposite edge of the wrapper for forming a metal-to-metal contact, and then inverting the box and its contents upon a flat surface while the cheese is hot so that the weight of the hot fluid cheese will uniformly flatten the metal-to-metal surfaces under heat and pressure conditions and form an eifective seal along their contacting areas.

2. The herein described method of packing cheese, which consists in utilizing a paper-covered foil wrapper within a box body so that foldable portions thereof project beyond the open top of the box and the paper is between the foil and the walls of the box and a relatively narrow section of the foil is free along the edge of one of said projecting portions, filling the wrapper in the box with hot fluid cheese, infolding the said projecting portions of the wrapper over the cheese filling so that the said free foil edge underlaps the opposite edge of the wrapper for forming metal-to-metal surfaces, and then immediately inverting the box and its contents upon a fiat surface while the cheese filling is still hot and before the same solidifies, so that the weight of the soft cheese and the heat thereof will coact to press the metal-to-metal surfaces into uniform contacting and sealing relationship.

3. The herein described. method of packing cheese, which consists in utilizing within an open top box body, a paper wrapper having an inner foil surface and a section of free foil along one infolding edge, filling the wrapper within the box with hot fluid cheese, folding the edges of the wrapper over the cheese so that said free section of foil is brought into metal-to-metal contact with the opposite edge of the wrapper, and then utilizing the heat and weight of the cheese to seal the metal-to-metal contacting surfaces by inverting the box and its contents.

WALTER Y. C. HUNT. 

